An Unexpected Journey

A small pinecone lies on a bed of dry pine needles and leaves.
Pinecone from a shortleaf pine.

May 4, 2025

We haven’t been on many adventures lately, or at least not to any places we haven’t been to before. Spring storms and illness have mostly kept us at home.

But we had a nice break in the weather this weekend and decided to get out and drive around a bit.

Only, we didn’t intend to go somewhere new.

It all started after we ate a late lunch and decided to drive through the national forest along FM 1791. It’s a pretty drive, and usually pretty laid back. But I guess a couple of Sunday Drivers going the speed limit was just too much for one particular driver to handle.

We had just been passed by someone in a Dodge Charger–because, of course, anyone in a Charger is likely going to drive too fast–when a mindless jerk in a tiny car decided the best thing to do was to ride our bumper for a couple of miles.

I spied an upcoming forest service road on the map display, and when we got close, switched into the opposite lane and made a quick turn onto it. Mr. Tiny Car went on his merry way down FM 1791. I hope he made it to his destination safely.

The road turned out to be Forest Service Road 208, aka, County Line Road.

Route: An Unexpected Journey

A sandy, dirt road runs through a forest.
County Line Road near the Multi-Use Trail

County Line Road does not actually run along the county line. It mostly parallels the line between Walker and Montgomery Counties on the Walker County side. Except for some areas affected by the recent storms, it appears to be fairly well maintained. It is a little narrow, though. A few times we had to drive partially in the ditch when passing other vehicles. Thankfully there were only a few others on the road.

I’ve been wanting to drive down County Line Road for a while, but from the other direction by way of Stubblefield Lake Road. The bridge that crosses the San Jacinto River on Stubblefield Lake Road was closed for a long time recently due to flood damage. It’s been open for a while, but like I stated above, we haven’t been out much lately.

This area of the Sam Houston National Forest has a lot of hiking and multi-use trails. There is a trailhead not far from FM 1791. A little further in we drove past Multi-Use Trail West Blue. I would have kept on driving except I saw some pretty coral bean blooms. So, we backed up and drove down the trail a short distance, and I did a little exploring.

Rings of radially arranged tubular red flowers extend from a vertical stem, with each cluster of flowers being shorter than the row below it, forming a conical shape.
Coral bean
A patch of coral bean plants in bloom
Coral bean plants
Green coral bean pods grow from a plant stem.
Coral bean pods. The beans are poisonous. Do not eat!
A small pinecone lies on a bed of dry pine needles and leaves.
Pinecone from a shortleaf pine.
A tall pine tree.
Shortleaf pine
A rough road extends a short way into a forest before turning out of sight.
Multi-Use Trail West Blue on the north side of County Line Road.
A dirt road with deep ruts and damage from heavy rains.
The trail became considerably rougher a short way in.
A patch of ferns.
Ferns along the trail.
Pine trees and a few hardwoods, with thick underbrush.
Trees along the trail.

And that was our only stop. We turned around on the trail and continued down County Line Road.

A lush patch of green ferns.
Ferns growing along County Line Road.
A dirt road runs straight ahead with tall trees on both sides. The road descends with a gentle slope before rising and disappearing into the trees ahead.
County Line Road

There was a large swath of forest that appeared to have been subjected to a prescribed burn fairly recently. This is not surprising to see in the national forest, but the combination of trees and shadows in a particularly thick part of the forest created a surreal experience.

A thick stand of pine trees. The bases of the trees and the undergrowth show signs of having been subjected to a prescribed burn fairly recently.
There appears to have been a prescribed burn here.

Forest Service Road 216 branches off of County Line Road and heads toward the Stubblefield Lake Recreation Area. The forest on one side of the road had been burned, which made a striking contrast with the other side.

A dirt road extends straight ahead before disappearing over a rise. To the left is the brown remains of undergrowth that was burned, but the undergrowth on the right side of the road is still thick and green.
Forest Service Road 216
Pine trees in an area that was recently burned.
This area was likely the subject of the same prescribed burn visible on County Line Road.

And a short distance from where FR 216 meets Stubblefield Lake Road, we saw this chance alignment of trees that appeared to make an arch:

A change alignment of two oak trees bend over a dirt road gives the appearance of an archway.
Two trees happened to align to give the appearance of a tree arch.

So, it wasn’t the most exciting adventure, but it was unexpected, and we did enjoy getting out. So, I guess I should thank that mindless jerk in the tiny car for inspiring me to make that turn.

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